Thierry Neuville: “Find the right limit”

En trois participations sur l’épreuve depuis 2014 avec Hyundai, Thierry Neuville did not do worse than sixth on the slopes of the Rally from Poland. The Belgian driver even scored a podium during his first appearance in 2014.

After two rallies lost at the start of the year when victory seemed to be reaching out to him at the Monte-Carlo Rally and in Sweden, the former Citroën Racing resident has never left the top 3, notably accumulating two consecutive victories. in Corsica and Argentina.

The Belgian knows well that a place on the podium would allow him this weekend to strengthen his position as the best opponent to the leader of the general classification Sébastien Ogier, or even reduce the gap on the reigning world champion. But above all we will have to take into account the challenge offered by a Polish course which could be made even more tricky by the rain.

« The hardest part is finding the gap between being brave and too brave and finding the right limit, admits Neuville. There could be difficult conditions with rain over the weekend and it arrived last night. It will be more delicate and we will have to find the right balance.

We have to recover points. It went well in Sardinia and we would have been in front without a small problem with the brakes. The margin with the drivers behind is not very big and some attack very hard. I have been on the podium five times in a row. The speed is there in all races. I'm sure I had my bad luck.

At some point in the season I hope to be in a leading position. Power Stage points are important. Ogier took more than me, but the main goal was to be in front. The Power Stage has more importance than in previous years. There are five points to take. »

The Belgian from Hyundai Motorsport got off to a good start in his Polish event, signing the best shakedown time this morning, by getting ahead Ott Tänak, winner in Sardinia with the Ford Fiesta WRC of the Team M-Sport.